Wednesday, 3 December 2008

Soup is an online anthology that brings together the work of writers and artists in Manchester. Throughout 2009 we will be presenting a series of illustrated short stories from a collection of Manchester's aspiring bright young things.Our aim is to collect creative prose in all of its vibrant and wonderful forms, pass it on to a suitable artist - who will then respond to the work - and publish the collaboration online.To submit, you need to be between the ages of 20 and 25 and currently live in Greater Manchester. It might seem strange that we are only accepting submissions from people within this age bracket, but we feel there is a genuinely good reason for this.As practicing young artists it is much easier to find established publications with strict submission guidelines and stiff competition than it is to stumble across platforms more suited to our most recent creative efforts. Soup is an antidote to this. It is designed as a forum specifically for artists who are beginning to realise their potential and find their 'voices.' It is a collection of efforts and ideas put forth by anyone in Manchester who wants to achieve something. Most of all, it encourages experimentation, stylistic diversity, and creative collaboration.So, if you want to get involved, here's what you need to know...

WRITERSTo begin with there will be no limit on the amount of work you can submit. In time this might change, but for now we urge you to send us as much as you like - stories, articles, essays, diatribes, opinion pieces, etc. All prose up to 2000 words will be read, but if you have something that exceeds this limit and believe we will enjoy it then, by all means, contact us. Soup is about improving ourselves as artists, and so ideally we are looking for prose that has been written with this project in mind. Try writing something new that will excite and challenge you as a writer. This website is an ongoing, ever-developing entity and we are always looking for new creative writing. And, finally...Soup is dedicated to creating an anthology worthy of your work, both in terms of content and aestheticism, so if we like what you send we WILL publish it. Send your work, along with a 50 word biography of yourself, to:soup_anthology@hotmail.co.uk

ARTISTS / ILLUSTRATORSIf you would like to be an illustrator for Soup then please send us 2 - 3 examples of your work via email. We are interested in a whole host of artistic forms and will select one artist for every piece of prose we decide to publish. When sending work, please ensure files are saved as either jpeg or .png files.Once you have been chosen we will send you a writer's work and you will have a certain amount of timeto respond to it. Your work will then be published online as an illustration.Send all examples of your work, along with a 50 word biography of yourself, to: soup_anthology@hotmail.co.uk

Please Remember:

Soup is here to ENCOURAGE rather than dishearten, and we very much look forward to hearing from you...